


Daughter of a Bad Luck Charm

by radbanette



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/M, Gen, Qrow is Ruby's father theory, qrow/summer is pretty much only implied, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-03-11 08:16:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13520247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radbanette/pseuds/radbanette
Summary: When she was born, Qrow hadn't wanted to hold her. He had been there only for Summer's sake, because even then both of them knew a normal family was unreasonable for them.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i'm a big fan of the "Qrow is Ruby's father" theory, and I think I wrote this like a year ago for this theory. I found it last night, thought "why not" and finished it up, so here it is

When she was born, Qrow hadn’t wanted to hold her. He had been there only for Summer’s sake, because even then both of them knew a normal family was unreasonable for them. But then there was a sudden crying noise, and within a few minutes, little Ruby Rose was cleaned up and in her mother’s arms.  
“Do you want to hold her?” Summer asked.  
He knew she was just trying to be polite, and that she wasn’t trying to convince him into staying or anything. But still- he couldn’t. Something bad could happen, and he would never forgive himself if Ruby got hurt because of him.  
His fists clenched and he shook his head. “No. I’d better not.”  
Summer gave him an almost-exasperated look. “Qrow, nothing bad will happen if you hold her for a minute.”  
I can’t risk it.  
“I’m no good with kids, Summer, you know that,” he stated. “Let Tai hold her. He loves babies.”  
Summer gave a little laugh, caught up in the happiness of memories. “Remember when Yang was born?”  
That made Qrow laugh as well. “He wouldn’t let go of her for hours. The nurses had to threaten to kick him out before he let them take her.”  
“I’d prefer to not have a repeat of that,” Summer stated.  
Qrow was silent for a moment. “You and Tai will be happy together.”  
“I know that,” Summer said quietly, shifting her hold on a sleeping Ruby. “I just wish that things could have worked out.”  
“I told you going into it that it couldn’t work out,” Qrow said, turning away to look out the window. “My semblance hurts those around me, and I don’t want you getting hurt because of me.”  
“We could find a way to make it work!” Summer stated. “I love Tai, I really do, but I think it would be best for Ruby to have her real dad around.” She looked like she wanted to say more, but didn’t.  
“I won’t abandon her like Raven abandoned Yang,” he said. “But I can’t play the father role that you want me to. I’ll be around, just not as her father.”  
Summer sighed. “I can see there’s no talking you out of this.” She paused. “Are you sure you don’t want to hold her before you leave?”  
He almost caved. He turned and stepped forward, his eyes on the tiny being that was half him and half Summer and yet a whole different being and for a second he allowed himself to believe that everything would be good and they could be happy as a family, but then the second ended. Qrow stopped and shook his head before heading towards the door. “Thanks, but I’ll have to take a rain check. Got patrols to get to and all that. See ya around, Shortstuff.” He paused at the door, the words he'd wanted to say caught in his throat. “I’ll, uh, be sure to check in every now and then. See how the little tyke is doing.”  
Summer nodded and gave a smile, knowing exactly what Qrow had been trying to say. “I’d appreciate that. I want Ruby to know who you are, Qrow. And maybe one day we can tell her the truth.”  
Qrow didn’t let himself get his hopes up. Even if they did tell Ruby once she got older, she would wonder why, and would possibly even hate Qrow for not being there. He hated the idea of her hating him. “Maybe,” he echoed, trying to say probably not. He ducked out of the room and headed down the hall. He would be able to relax again once he was out of the hospital, and probably after a couple drinks. Hospitals made him jumpy. So much could go wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

Sometimes, Qrow made promises that he couldn’t keep. It’s not that he purposefully broke them; the circumstances changed, or his semblance acted up, or a million other things. But there was never a real excuse; the pain of breaking a promise always lingered. He thought about that as he watched Ruby race across the front yard, showing off her recently-discovered semblance. She was the spitting image of Summer, but Qrow knew that there was some of him in Ruby; she was a total weapons nerd already, and would be happier left alone with a book of weapon schematics. While Ruby took Qrow’s interest in weapons to a farther degree, he had to admit that her awkwardness when meeting new people was all him.  
We made one weird kid, Shortstuff, Qrow thought, watching Ruby try to activate her semblance mid-cartwheel. The eight-year-old tripped and fell, scraping her knee up badly which caused her to begin crying.  
“Come on, let’s get a band-aid on you,” Qrow said, picking Ruby up and carrying her into the house. Luckily, Tai and Yang were both at the nearest town to pick up groceries, otherwise they would have hovered around Ruby and only made her cry more. “Now this is gonna sting a little bit, so you’re gonna have to be tough, okay?” Ruby nodded, but still cried from pain when Qrow put antiseptic on her knee. He distracted her from the stinging by letting her choose which of the brightly-colored band-aids she wanted. “And since your dad’s not home, you get a lollipop for being such a good patient,” Qrow said, handing her a strawberry lollipop.  
“Uncle Qrow, I don’t like strawberry lollipops,” Ruby told him, silver eyes still sparkling from her earlier tears. “Can I have orange instead?”  
“Sure, kiddo.” He’d forgotten that Ruby didn’t like strawberry candy. It almost made him laugh, because strawberry candy was the only flavor that Summer would eat.  
“Promise me you’ll tell her,” Summer had said the last time Qrow had seen her before the mission. “She needs to know that you’re her father. And she needs to hear it from you, so don’t try to get me or Tai to tell her. You need to promise me, Qrow.”  
“Ruby, there’s something I need to tell you.”  
She looked up at him, a mini version of Summer that every now and then had a look that was pure Qrow. “What is it, Uncle Qrow?”  
He sighed. “Your mom and dad love you very much.”  
Ruby laughed. “I know that! Dad tells me every day.”  
“And it’s true.” He stood up and moved towards the door. “Now come on. If you’re ever going to get good at cartwheels, you need to keep practicing.”  
“I promise I’ll tell Ruby the truth.” That had been a stupid promise. What good would it do Ruby to know who her real father was now? Taiyang was the man she knew as her father, and he was more of a father than Qrow could ever be.  
That’s why I’m doing this, Qrow thought to himself, praying to whatever god there was out there that Tai and Yang get back before his semblance acts up again. I’m breaking my promise to Summer. I could never take care of her like Taiyang can. Besides, what’s one more broken promise?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably going to end up a series of one-shots, so just a heads-up that I'll try to keep them in order, but I don't know if that's even possible right now, lol. I'll make sure to include a warning if the one-shot doesn't follow the one before it

**Author's Note:**

> i'm pretty sure Qrow is either ooc or I just have an easy time getting into his headspace because his dialogue was super easy to write. not sure which one I prefer


End file.
